BYR: Some things maybe a bit exaggerated for the sake of entertainment. Also, most of the things in here is from my experiences and considering I do not live in China, may not be entirely accurate. Sorry for any inaccuracies!
(c)Hetalia - Himaruya Hidekaz
(c)Wii - Nintendo
(c)Mario Kart - Nintendo
Cover and story is mine
"Man, is China coming or what!? He's usually late and all, but never this late!" America complained to the Allies. He was not happy about China missing his 'awesome' plan. As America continued pouting, everyone sighed all at once. "What?" England was first to speak.
"He's celebrating New Years, bloody git..." the Brit said, adding the last part to himself, but America still caught it.
"Dude, I'm not an idiot! New Years was over a month ago!" America said, poking at England's head. He knew for a fact that it pissed the Brit off.
"Why you‒!"
"Don't you have any Asians in America?" France interrupted before England could strangle the American, "It's Chinese New Year so he just stayed home."
"Oh!" America exclaimed, but after an awkward pause, "What's that like...?" England and France had fallen out of their seat because of the American's question while Russia watched silently, a innocent childish smile on his face. None of them could believe what America just asked.
"Are you serious?" England asked with a monotone voice.
"Hey, man! It's not like I celebrate it or anything!" America pouted. "So of course I wanna know!"
"If you're so curious, why don't you go see China, da~" Russia innocently asked. America opened his mouth to say something, but then he started to ponder Russia's suggestion.
"Russia!" America exclaimed. "That's a brilliant idea!" With that, the hyper American ran out the door shouting, "Meeting's over!"
"..." The remaining three nations stared at the door, completely silent.
"Well, I wish China the best of luck." France sighed, standing up.
"I give him half an hour before he blows something up with firecrackers." England added, talking about America and heading towards the door.
"We should all visit later as well, da~" Russia happily suggested. England and France stared back at him; the idea wasn't half bad.
"Oui~ I would love to see our little China~" France nodded. "Wouldn't you, England?" the French nation added, nudging England with a smirk.
"Sod off, frog!" the Brit shouted. "I'm going to have to go to make sure the blundering idiot doesn't burn half of China's home down!"
"Yeah, looking out for America. Right." France snickered.
"Yay! Let's go all together later!" Russia said with a great smile. England and France nervously smiled back.
It hadn't taken that long for America to hop on a jet, fly all the way to China, and hop on a taxi and drive to the town China lived in, but when he got off, everything seemed completely different from the usual. Instead of wearing casual clothes like jeans and t-shirts, everyone was dress in traditional clothing. Not only that, but lanterns were hung everywhere, everything was decorated with red and gold, and monsters roamed the streets‒
"GWAH!" Right in front of America was some freaky, colorful creature. He had jumped back, frightfully staring back. When the creature blinked at him, America's heart skipped a beat and he turned around, taking off. Where he was going, he wasn't exactly sure. Sadly for him, America hadn't ran that far before running into someone and tumbling over.
"Woah!"
"Ai!"
Crash!
America groaned, rubbing his head and sitting up from his place on the ground. He was about to go apologize to whomever he had just ran into, but the person had beat him to it with shouts.
"Aiyah! Look where you're going aru! And why would you even think of running in such crowded stree‒ A-America!?" America turned his head to the other person, meeting the one whom he was originally meeting.
"Hey, China!" America cheerfully shouted, jumping up and forcefully pulling the other up as well. "How's it going!?"
"What are you doing here aru?" China asked, curiously, ignoring America's previous question.
"Well, you weren't at today's meeting, so I thought I'd stop by and say hi!"
"Okay... Then why were you charging through the streets aru?" America flinched at China's second question. He didn't want to admit running away from some foreign monster. Hero's don't run away.
"I was just so excited to see you!" America lied, giving China a tight bear hug, mentally noting to go back and face the monster like the hero he was. China, however, was not a fan of his hug.
"Ai! Let go of me aru!" China shouted, struggling out of America's grip. "Well, since you're here, might as well be of use to me aru." America rose a brow at China's comment, a tad confused. His confusion went away a moment later when the ancient nation tossed him a bunch of shopping bags.
"Apparently Taiwan and Korea failed their only task of fetching enough ingredients for our New Year's dinner, so I had to go out and fill up on what was missing aru." China explained, pulling America along. The older nation was only holding his basket-backpack with some vegetables inside while America slightly struggled with the other five bags. Did China really need that much?
"How much food are you even making?" America whined after following China for what seemed like forever. Two more bags had been handed to him in the amount of time.
"Since you showed up, I'm assuming you would be joining us for dinner aru." China stopped and said, turning around to give America an innocent look. Said American stopped as well, eyes slightly widened from shock.
"Oh, um, thanks." America said, bashfully.
"Besides, if you came, that means the others will, too aru..." China darkly added. America gulped, giving a nervous laugh. "Now hurry up!" China started, walking with a quicker pace. "You stick out like Opium's eyebrows and people are staring aru." America perked up at China's comment, looking around. Indeed he was right; nearly everyone was taking looks at the foreigner dressed in different clothes.
"W-wait up!"
America tried to keep up with China, but it was proven way easier said than done. China moved as fast as a fox, dodging everything in his way with ease. America, on the other hand, was holding seven heavy grocery bags and was as big as two normal sized, Chinese men. He had to apologize to someone every second.
Once they were out of the lively town, America was already exhausted.
"Wow, you lasted a lot longer than I thought aru." China smiled at America, hands on his hips.
"How can you go through all of that and not be beat!?" America exclaimed.
"It's part of New Years aru." China shrugged, starting to walk again. "My home is filled with life around this time, as well as all my summer homes around the world aru." America nodded, even though China's back was to him.
"So, what is Chinese New Year like?" America asked his main objective, realizing China lived on a tall hill at the same time. He cursed at his realization.
"You came all the way here just to find out aru?" China asked, a brow raised.
"Yep!" America answered with a goofy smile. China sighed, smiling anyways.
"Well, I suppose I could show you around aru."
"Awesome!" America cheerfully shouted, also noticing they reached China's house.
"Japan! Taiwan! Korea! Hong Kong!" China shouted once entering his home. America winced at the booming volume of his voice. A second after their brother shouted for them, all four Asians appeared.
"Welcome back, Gege." Taiwan sweetly smiled. "Did you enjoy your time in town?"
"Don't think you can get out of punishment for not getting enough food aru." China said, bluntly. Taiwan pouted. "Now, all of you, help with the groceries." China added, signaling towards America. All four of China's younger siblings took a second to register that America was present, taking the grocery bags once that second passed. They would make sure to question his presence later.
Once all the bags were taken from his hands, America took the chance to look around China's house. It was very similar to the town; lots of lanterns, red and gold ornaments, scrolls with characters he couldn't decipher and more. What really caught America's attention was the amount of snake themed decorations.
"It's the year of the snake, you know." America jumped, turning and seeing Hong Kong right next to him.
"Holy crap, Hong!" America pouted, but Hong Kong saw nothing of it.
"You came to look around?" the teenage nation asked, already knowing the answer.
"Yep. What goes on during Chinese New Year?" Hong Kong rose a brow at America's question. He was pretty sure his brother had summer homes in America.
"Different things. Gege's gonna take you around, right?"
"That's right aru." The two turned to the door leading into the kitchen, seeing China just passing over the threshold. "Starting now."
"Awesome!" America shouted. "What first!?"
"Temples aru." China answered, walking towards the front door. America followed behind.
"So, what goes on there?" America asked China, breaking the brief silence.
"We pray with incenses aru." the older nation explained as they walked up to the temple, America taking note of the brightly colored decorations again. The place was very crowded, smoke filling the air. It was a hassle to not lose China within the crowd of Chinese people whom America believed all looked exactly like him.
"Alfred, over here!" China called, switching to America's name because of the crowd. "Here aru." the ancient nation said once America reached him. China handed him a handful of lit incense, explaining to him that he should pray and place one before the statues of ancient figures.
America nodded, walking up to one of the statues. First, he watched how some others did it and mimicked them, placing one incense with the others.
"Hao! Simple as that aru." China smiled, standing besides America as the younger nation stared up at the statue. "What?"
"You have some freaky looking statues." America said bluntly what was on his mind. He didn't mean to offend, but China was indeed offended.
"Ai! Don't be disrespectful aru!" the ancient nation scolded, smacking the other's arm. The smack caused America's arm to shake, the ashes on the incense calling onto his bare skin.
"Ow!" the America yelped, shaking his burned hand. "What was that!?"
"Well, we use fire to light them up aru. Of course there's a chance of getting burned." China explained as America listen, attentively, placing one incense before another statue with the others. "My siblings always hold a competition to see who gets burned the least. I think Korea surprisingly won this year aru," the older nation continued, leading America around the temple.
After several more statues and burns later, America was finally done and the two nations began to make their leave.
"Man, China," America started, rubbing his stinging eyes (caused from all the smoke), "how can you deal with all the burning and stinging eyes and smoke and‒ Yeah!?"
China giggled behind his sleeve before answering, "I've been doing this for many many MANY years aru. You get immune to the smoke and learn how to prevent getting burned."
Right as America was about to step out, China suddenly stopped him and pulled him back. He handed the younger nation a small red envelope and pointed to a box that read, 'donation'. "Remember to make donations aru!" the Chinese nation smiled greatly as America slipped the envelope into the box.
"What was in there?"
"Money aru."
"Hmm..." Finally, the two continued out. Right as they walked out of the door, a monk handed them a little gift; a small golden box.
"Xie xie, Tibet! Gong Hey Fat Choy!" China said to Tibet. The Tibetan smile back, waving as they left.
"So, what's this?" America asked once they were at a distance from the temple. He shook the little box, hearing something inside.
"There's a little treat inside aru." China giggled again, opening America's box. The younger of the two's eyes widened immediately when seeing the little treat inside.
"Woah!"
"Eat it later aru." China cut in before America could eat. "We have more things to see."
China dragged America all the way back down to town, the crowd from before still as jam packed as before. The Chinese nation pulled the other along, somehow making their way through the crowd and stopping at a wide opening. In the center of the opening was the same creature America saw before, but now there was two.
"Oh crap!" America yelped, jumping back a bit. There were people behind him, so he didn't jump that far.
"What? They're just lion dancers aru." China explained, giving America an innocent look. "Aren't they cute?~" he asked, referring to the big lion head. America gave China a horrid look, which the other seemed not to notice. After a brief moment, America finally turned back to the lion dancers and was instantly amazed.
The two 'lions' moved along with the beat of the drums and gongs around them, bobbing their heads up and down as well as sway side to side, the extra simple decorations adding an extra slash to the mesmerizing performance.
The dancer controlling the head jumped and the person behind him held onto him, making the lion look as if it was on two feet. When the front feet were back on the ground, they continued jumping and galloping around.
America noticed a young child nervously walk up to the lions with a red envelope, like the one he slid into the donation box. The American nation nudge China, asking what was up. "I suppose you can say it's a New Year's thing aru." he responded with a cheerful smile, pointing back to the child and lion dancer. America turned back, laughing with the crowd a moment later.
Apparently, when the lion accept the envelope, the child became a bit cocky and starting poking at the lion. The lion turned and started chasing the young child in a teasing manner, the child running around with fear. "Poor kid." America chuckled.
"Happens all the time aru." China smiled back.
After the performance, China and America started heading for another part of town; another part with another crowd. In the center of the crowd this time, was Hong Kong.
"Woah! 'Sup, Hong!" America shouted, waving towards the younger nation. Hong Kong looked up from what he was doing, giving a nod as a 'hello'. "What's he doing?" he asked China.
"Like what he does to Opium at every meeting." China softly laughed, shaking his head. "Firecrackers aru. Hong Kong is always in charge of handling the explosives." America nodded his head with the clarification, but was instantly thrown off by the sound of firecrackers going off.
America's hands covered his ears as the booming explosives went off, sounding exactly like gunshots. With each pop and boom, red paper flew about, coating the street with red along with the excess gun powder.
"Gosh, I forgot how loud those were." America whined once the firecrackers died down. China, once again, had shown no effects of the deafening explosives.
"You get use to it aru."
"Because of the many New Years?"
"No, from Hong Kong..."
America stared at China blankly, but the older nation was already off again. The American hastily followed behind once noticing China was already at a distance.
"Hey! Hey! Hey! China!" America enthusiastically called, jumping up and down in from of said nation. "What next!? Some cool dragon stuff!? Or maybe some kung fu action! Or or or‒!"
"Well, right now," China starting, cutting off and passing America, "I need to start dinner. You are welcome to stay aru." America pouted, now following behind the ancient nation again.
As the two continued into China's home upon arrival, they were greeted by China's siblings watching another lion dance on TV.
"Couldn't you watch that live outside aru!?" China yelled in a scolding tone upon entrance.
"Shush! Shush! Shush!" Korea shushed, still keeping full attention on the TV.
"It's the competition one." Japan added. When China walked over to them, he instantly rose a brow.
"Isn't that the one from last year aru?"
"..." All three siblings sat quietly before simultaneously groaning at China's correct statement. The older nation started laughing.
"Wow, guys." America chuckled as well.
After several minutes of sibling bickering from embarrassment (and America awkwardly standing off to the side), China finally started dinner preparations, leaving America in the care of his siblings.
"Is this something you guys do on Chinese New Years?" America asked. He and the other three present Asians were playing Mario Kart on Hong Kong's Wii.
"Hai. It's part of our tradition." Japan answered.
"So that means this isn't really an ancient Asian thing, right?"
"No, America. They totally had Wii's back then." Taiwan answered, sarcastically. "Other people probably have family gatherings on New Years as well, doing this kinda stuff, having dinner, watching the lion dance competitions, different things." she added, hitting Korea with a green shell.
"I'm back!" Someone called, causing all four nations to turn towards the door. There stood Hong Kong, covered in soot.
"Another successful New Years, Hong?" Korea called backed with a toothy smile. His only response was a thumbs up from the pyromaniac. America gave a low whistle as Japan took a photo for memory, Hong Kong retreating to the washroom to clean up.
"Hong Kong?" China popped into the room.
"Just missed him." America answered.
"How bad was it aru." China sighed.
"Well, not as bad as last year da ze!" Korea chuckled. China retreated back to the kitchen, the four able to catch a quiet 'aiyah!' as he did so.
"And dinner's ready aru!" China shouted, causing everyone to run to the dining room except for Hong Kong, whom was still cleaning himself up. "Okay, line up!" China said. His present siblings did as told with America confused what was going on.
One by one, China handed each person a red envelope. First Japan, followed by Taiwan, then finally Korea. When the Asians went to sit down in their seats, China was giving America his own red envelope.
"Is this another donation thing?" America asked, generally confused. China giggled behind the remaining envelope (which belonged to Hong Kong).
"No. It's something elders usually give to younger family members and children aru." China explained.
"But, I'm not Asian or anything." America responded.
"Well, you're a part of the family today aru." China nodded with an high smile before walking to his respective seat. America looked down at the red envelope, seeing a beautiful golden snake on it, along with golden characters that he couldn't read. His curious expression soon turned into a warm, cheerful smile as he made his way towards a chair at the table.
Finally finished cleaning himself up, Hong Kong made his way towards the dining room. As he did so, there was a knock on the front door. "I'll get it!" the teenage nation shouted, turning the door knob. Right when he swung the door open, Hong Kong instantly had wanted to slam the door shut.
At the door was England, France, and Russia.
"Hello, Hong Kong. Happy New Year." England greeted.
" 'Ello!? China!? America!? Are you there!?" France shouted though the door. Russia just stood smiling.
"Gege!" Hong Kong shouted, leaving the door for the dining room. Right as he passed the threshold into the other room, China appeared.
"This is yours, Hong Kong." China said, holding the red envelope out for his younger brother.
"Xie xie..." Hong Kong responded, receiving the envelope and making his way to his seat.
"May I ask why you three decided to show up aru..." China asked, bluntly.
"Well, that is quite rude." England responded with a sharp tone.
"Hey, guys! Cool of you to show up!" America shouted, popping up from behind China. "Wow, you actually called it, China. They did show up!"
"May we come in?" Russia finally spoke.
"Of course aru." China answered, emotionlessly, stepping aside. France and Russia entered first with America leading them into the other room. Finally, England entered.
"Happy New Year, Yao." the Brit said with a soft smile. China's face instantly turned pink as he turned away. The Chinese nation silently grumbled to himself as he made his way back to the others, hands making a fist. England gave a chuckle as he followed behind China, closing the door behind him. He was able to catch the silent 'opium bastard' remark from the older nation as well.
"So, what have you learned, America?" China and England heard France ask America upon entrance.
"Well, a bunch of things!" America enthusiastically answered. "Did you know they had Wii's way back then!?" he shouted first, causing Taiwan to choke on her tea. "Ha ha ha! Just kidding!"
Once China and England were seated, the group finally started their meal with America sharing the things he learned like a young grade-schooler. It was rather entertaining for China to listen to America talk about his culture.
After dinner, the large group went out into China's yard with dessert and waited for the dark sky to light up with fireworks. Sitting up front was Japan, Taiwan, Korea, and Hong Kong with America, all five talking animatedly. Behind them stood France and Russia, both having their own conversation whilst enjoying their dessert. In the back, closest to the house, sat China with England next to him.
"So, how was your day with the git?" England asked China. The latter of the two gave a subtle giggle, smacking the former, playfully.
"Be nice." China smiled. "And it wasn't all that bad aru. It was rather amusing seeing his childish expression and reaction to everything. I haven't witness those kind of emotions in a while aru." the ancient nation sighed, looking towards his laughing siblings as old memories flooded his head. He was snapped back to reality when the first firework went off into the air, bursting into bright lights.
"Oh my god, China!" America shouted, plopping down next to said nation. "I didn't know you had fireworks during New Years, too!"
"He invented then, you sodding idiot!" England said with a look of disbelief. China had a similar sort of look as well, only less harsh. America only pouted back at the Brit, not noticing China's look.
"Pssh! You're just jealous me and China are like, best buds now!" America responded, putting his arm around China's shoulder and pulling him in. "Ha!"
"I am not! And it's 'China and I'!" England spat back, pulling China back towards him and out of America's grasp. The American only stuck his tongue out childishly.
"Actually, Hong gave me a little souvenir today." America said with a sly grin. When he pulled out what he had, England and China instantly paled. In America's hands were firecrackers, something the American really shouldn't have.
"You wouldn't." England growled.
"Don't worry. I won't set them off." America laughed as China and England sighed with relief. "...Yet..."
Sorry for being a week late! I was actually busy during New Years. Happy Chinese/Lunar New Years! Also! I don't think the Japanese and Korean celebrate it (although I could be wrong), so sorry about that, but it's family stuff, so Japan and Korea are here~ Once again, sorry for inaccuracy; this is based off my experiences, etc. If you want to see some pictures of temples like the one I wrote about, I posted some on my Tumblr page (link on my FF page). Gong Hey Fat Choy! Happy New Year! Reviews are Loved! Please excuse spelling, grammar, and/or language! Thank you for reading!